the shrewdness of apes

begging for a paul allen reference

much as i hate to support anything micorsoft-related, i was very pleased yesterday to discover that two of my favorite sportswriters, allen barra and paul lukas, are writing for slate these days.

barra wrote for salon for a time and recently riled some folks up when he supported rush limbaugh's comments about donovan mcnabb*.   while i didn't necessarily agree with that, he is one of the few sportswriters who i feel has a truly unique voice and actually challenges readers to think.   his latest column dissects all the rumors surrounding alex rodriguez.

lukas is the man behind the beer frame fanzine, which i was happy to find out is still available.   for the past few years he has also written the uni watch column for the village voice, tracking trends and changes in professional sports uniforms.   the voice, in an apparent cost-saving maneuver, just 86ed their sports coverage entirely. which is fine, since i've been digging the ny sports express lately (especially some of the stuff that's only available in the print version).   but i am glad to see that uni watch has survived.

* the gist of the argument goes like this: mcnabb has never put up gaudy offensive numbers, and the team has been characterized in recent years by its great defensive performances.   therefore, the praise that has been heaped on him has been largely because he is black.   it is certainly true that has never led an elite offense, but this ignores a very key point: that mcnabb has never, not for one season, had an above average running back or wide receiver on his team.   no marshall faulks; no marvin harrisons; not even a tony gonzalez.   and yet he has done more with a bunch of scrubs that most any other quarterback outside of steve mcnair could hope to do.   if that team ever made a commitment to offense, instead of wasting time with guys like todd pinkston and correll buckhalter, they'd be rolling over the rest of the NFC.   instead they consistently rank near the top of the list in terms of room under the salary cap.   some pundits were even criticizing him earlier this year for not completing passes to his wide receivers.   but you can't throw to guys who can't get open!

Posted by marc@balgavy.com at November 19, 2003 11:51 AM